Spore

Guess what WE'VE been up to?

Distributing Metaphytas and well, generally, evolving single-cell organisms to these:







Ok, these are GIFs, and they aren't working on this blog. Ah well.

"I'll Clean It Up Later"

And then Sherm came across these:

San-x Rilakkuma Room @ Park Royal Hotel, Japan..

And the Rilakkuma Wii game..

And.. *groan*.. the Rilakkuma hood+towel..

Ya, she's a Rilakkuma fan..

The Half Blood Prince/ Deathly Hallows

I am a Harry Potter fan all over again. After the Order of the Phoenix (which I felt was so-so), I decided to stop catching up with the books and the movie till I could read or watch them all in one-shot. The anticipation was getting too much to bear. As such, I only picked up the Half Blood Prince 2 weeks ago, thinking that enough time had lapsed and since Deathly Hallows was now readily available. Just before finishing HBP, I borrowed The Deathly Hallows from the library so I could do a back-to-back (re aforementioned anticipation).

Having started with the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorceror's Stone) from age 20, it became evident that Harry Potter wasn't just for children. The solid writing was simple and easy to read, and the themes of dark magic, death and murder are not exactly rated "G". OK, I'm just justifying why I am so enthralled by a child's book..

Without giving anything away, the two books are really good, and you will need to read the preceding series to feel the kind of emotional roller-coaster and excitement that I felt throughout my time reading them (also cos Rowling seldom explains or requotes from prior events in earlier books). I spent many lunches and train rides glued to the books, wanting to find out more and more. In short, they're well and truly AWESOME.

Now we bemoan the end of the series, with nothing to look forward to but the upcoming final 2 movies and *sneer* Tales of Beedle the Bard.


*SPOILER WARNING*


The Half Blood Prince

This is the first book that I personally feel the titular character, Harry, begins to really show some character. I used to feel that his friends were more strongly depicted than him, and he was merely a central character around which his tale was built through the actions of others around him. In the HBP, Harry has grown rebellious, more vocal and strong-minded, and hints an affinity toward the dark side with his reluctance to throw aside a potions book that he happens to receive. About time, he's 16 already, teens usually display hormonal changes earlier than this!

I'm surprised at how well Rowling was able to depict young love through Ron & Hermione, and Harry and his true love, not Cho Chang.. The longing, the fear or uncertainty, the jealousy. And not in many words too!

The book ends in surprise, as Dumbledore can no longer give Harry his year-end debrief, having been killed matter-of-factly.

A better review/summary can be found here, dated May 29, 2008.


The Deathly Hallows

All hell has broken loose; the year at Hogwarts, as has been the tradition in the previous books, will be spent out of the school. Harry and his 2 best friends are on the run and carrying on with Dumbledore's assigned quest. There are many touching moments and emotional setbacks as this tome finally reveals all. One of these moments was when Harry manages to win over Kreacher, Sirius Black's house-elf. Through their separations and eventual reunion, the teens experience more adventure to last a lifetime. Rowling's infamous killing of several characters in this book continues, though much less fanfare is given due to the nature of War.

Severus Snape's death was not glorious, and though Harry had never trusted him through the years, it was often alluded that Snape had a hidden agenda. This is revealed finally when Harry goes through his memories after witnessing his passing. I once thought that if Snape proved to be on the side of good, his story itself could probably be written into a book. Alas, it was written into one chapter here, but what a heart-felt chapter it was! Read more here.

Harry's earlier victories against Voldemort have always been someone helping him or sheer luck, it seemed. But that Voldemort's true nemesis was not Harry, but himself, that had made Harry his counter-point. The true enemy was Knowledge, or the lack of it; and the one advantage Harry always had over Voldemort was Love 0_0 . It was ultimately Harry's brave Griffindorian nature that complemented the role that Voldemort made for him, culminating in the final showdown in the great hall of Hogwarts. Oh, go read the series yourself and see how this plays out, its too complex to explain in a few words..

The final chapter ends with Harry and friends all grown up and in their 30's, with kids of their own. A fitting conclusion to 10 years of excitement, magic and imagination!

One issue did bother me though, and that was with the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. It seemed to me as though Harry and friends were desperately searching for a masonic-like symbol (association with symbols of Free Masonry, a known Secret society of dubious standing).

Note: Just observed that the series ends at book 7. 7 is apparently also a significant number in the wizarding world. And I read that the Deathly Hallows movie will be in 2 parts, making it 8 movies! (milk the fans, why don't you!)

Happy Birthday Shermy!

Sherm celebrates her Silver Jubilee this year on the 23rd Feb. Wishing her many more healthily-good and wonderfully-loving years ahead!

Will she pls accept my present already!!

The President & the Reserves Debacle

I don't get it. Why are angry/disgruntled citizens/netizens so keenly focused on President Nathan's decision-making process regarding the recent "unlocking of National reserves"? Why are people scrutinizing the route to which he arrived at his decision to say "YES" to being the 2nd-key? Personally I feel the key issue has to do with the Reserves being managed by questionable authorities than how the President said Yes.

He said YES to giving us more money, and yes to helping out the various systems, again so the people ultimately benefit. Then? Also not happy ah?

The key power is the Prime Minister and his cabinet. If there be issues, look to them, question them, and don't vote for them if you're not happy. Its really that simple. You keep voting for a one-party majority, you'll never get your answers. One-party majority or not, economic decline is inevitable because of Global economic factors, nothing to do with the party. You want answers to your questions, then yes, a stronger opposition to help you attain the satisfaction you seek.

I'm not gonna say anything bad about the role of the Singapore President. But so long as he's well-liked, the citizens are happy, right? Eh, situation not like that anymore?

Unconfirmed estimated $200Bn losses from SG SWFs

With reference to Choongyong.com's live attendance of Parliament (his 12th Feb article), Mrs Lim Hwee Hwa blurted out that GIC lost 41%. GIC's loss has been kept under wraps and this figure may not even be correct. But assuming it is correct ($320bn X 40% = $128bn), together with Temasek's official 31% loss, both Singapore's Sovereign Wealth Funds have lost near $200 billion (and not all paper losses, some have been recognised, and others may be nationalised should they continue to falter - Citigroup, Bank of America)!

Edit: A speculative report by Dow Jones estimated however, that GIC's losses for 2008 alone were $45-50 billion.

We may criticize the US' initial $US700 billion bailout package, but at least, the money went to local institutions in the hopes that it will help the economy. Our SWFs have pumped in $200 bn into outright losses that benefit no one in Singapore! The money went to foreign institutions, with the obscure hope that in the distant future, the risky (bordering on disastrous) investments will work themselves out favorably (when they will proudly laud their long-held assets disposed at eventual profit).

Then you compare the $20 billion Singapore Resilience Package, and what a big deal it was, when MPs started commenting about how we should not become a hand-out-happy society. In a way, I'm glad we're having a financial meltdown. Let the truth out already la.

But one should always retain an objective perspective. GIC is afterall on a long-term strategy, and the irrelevant ups and downs, such as 2008's tragedy, is less important, given their "nominal rate of return over the 20 years to March 31 last year was 7.8 percent in US dollar terms" (quoted from inserted article above). Wait a minute - March 31 2008? So what's their rate of return now, factoring the subsequent losses?

Thursday, 12 February 2009
Singapore Democrats

CNN reported today that Merrill Lynch paid a total of $121 million (amounts in USD unless otherwise stated) to its top four bonus recipients in 2008 just before it went out of business. The next top for bonus recipients received $62 million, and the next top six bonus packages totalled $66 million. In other words, 14 people in the US were given nearly $250 million.
The list goes on: nearly 700 of the company's top executives (out of a total of 39,000 employees) walked away with at least $1 million each in bonuses bringing the grand total paid out to a cool $3.6 billion.

These benefits were dished out last December, just days before the bank announced that it had made a $15-billion loss in the 4th quarter ($27 billion for the year). A few days later, the company was sold to Bank of America.

The Merrill saga would make for fascinating reading if not for the fact that we Singaporeans were the ones paying for this scam.

And who was behind the fiasco? In December 2007, Temasek Holdings bought into Merrill Lynch and paid $4.4 billion for a 9.4 percent stake, making it the biggest shareholder even though the bank was already losing money then. By July 2008, Merrill reported another two quarters of losses and announced that it needed more capital – $8.5 billion to be exact.

Normally this would have been seen as a warning signal that something was amiss. But the bright sparks at Temasek, chief among them Ms Ho Ching, unbelievably chose to up its stake to 14 percent in the flailing and failing bank. Temasek did this because it believed that Merrill had a "great franchise". It even announced that it had "great confidence" in the bank's CEO John Thain, who was fired from BoA earlier this year for not disclosing Merrill's losses.

But you wouldn't know about the tumult by looking at Temasek's website because it carries no news about Merrill. The website does say, however, that Temasek is "built on professionalism and robust processes".

All that professionalism and robustness under Ms Ho's leadership led the group to declare a 31 percent loss last year in its portfolio of S$185 billion – and that was just between March and November. Temasek has invested 40 percent of its budget in financial services. Put together, we are probably staring at an even greater loss.

The S$58-billion loss incurred by Temasek works out to, based on 3 million citizens, S$20,000 per Singaporean. If this money had been returned to the people instead of lining the already bulging pockets of the fat cats in Wall Street, each Singaporean household would have an average of S$80,000 to fall back on in these hardest of times.

As it was, Mr John Thain spent $1.2 million of company money to renovate his office and we ended up helping to pay for, among other things, a $35,000 toilet-bowl and a $1,400 wastebasket.

The scary bit about all this is that the GIC has yet to announce its losses.

In the meantime, the Government tells Singaporeans to further tighten their belts. Wonderful advice for the thousands who stand in line everyday for free food.

I love this article just because it postulates that I could have gotten S$20,000 from the government. Instead, I get GST offset packages worth $100-200.

From a reasonable point of view, govt has to invest to be able to make the "free" money sustainable. I mean, ERP is a fascinating cash cow, but COE seems to need revision these days. Ah well..

Million $ bonuses despite 15B losses

Merrill Lynch's bonuses made 696 millionaires, probe reveals
Posted: 12 February 2009 0638 hrs


WASHINGTON: Merrill Lynch quietly paid out at least one million dollars bonus each to about 700 top executives even when the investment house was bleeding with losses last year, a probe has revealed.

They were part of 3.6 billion dollars in the firm's bonus payments in December before the announcement of its fourth quarterly losses and takeover by Bank of America, the investigation by the New York state Attorney General's office showed.

"696 individuals received bonuses of one million dollars or more," New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said of the Merrill scandal in a letter to a lawmaker heading the House of Representatives financial services committee.

Cuomo said "these payments and their curious timing raise serious questions as to whether the Merrill Lynch and Bank of America boards of directors were derelict in their duties and violated their fiduciary obligations," according to a copy of the letter.

Bank of America said recently it was aware of the amounts and timing of the bonuses even though previous reports had suggested the top bank was surprised by the payout.

Cuomo said in his letter to Democratic lawmaker Barney Frank that his office was also examining whether senior officials at both companies "violated their own fiduciary obligations to shareholders.

"If they did, this raises additional serious issues with regard to the inappropriate use of taxpayer funds," he said.

"Merrill Lynch's decision to secretly and prematurely award approximately 3.6 billion dollars in bonuses, and Bank of America's apparent complicity in it, raise serious and disturbing questions," he said.

Shareholders and experts had expressed concern over Merrill's 15.3 billion fourth-quarter loss, which caused Bank of America to request a second round of government bailout on January 16.

Bank of America's shareholders voted to approve Merrill's takeover on December 5.

Former Merrill Lynch chief executive John Thain, Bank of America chief administrative officer J. Steele Alphin and other top executives have been summoned to provide testimony in the probe.

"One disturbing question that must be answered is whether Merrill Lynch and Bank of America timed the bonuses in such a way as to force taxpayers to pay for them through the deal funding," Cuomo said.

Cuomo said the Merrill Lynch bonus payment was "nothing short of staggering."

While more than 39,000 Merrill employees received bonuses from the pool, the vast majority of these funds were "disproportionately distributed to a small number of individuals."

"Indeed, Merrill chose to make millionaires out of a select group of 700 employees." - AFP/de

Unbelievable.. the ML saga continues..

My Bloody Valentine ;)

Sherm bought me Valentine's Day present!! And its... a Razer Death Adder mouse!!


She decided she's not going to waste money on getting V-day flowers, chocs, etcetc.. (not that I want flowers or chocs) but instead get me something that I would really like.. And as you can tell, I'm going nuts with anticipation!

My previous favourite Razer Diamondback Plasma mouse, after several years of extremely dependable mousiness, decided to get slightly conked out. Prit's Razer contact has since become very busy and so I've not been able to get it the attention it so badly needs. Meanwhile, I've been using my even older Microsoft infra-red mouse (I think one of the first of those kinds) on my spankingly-new PC. A bit of a letdown.


My dear Shermaine, having observed my unhappiness (and I don't think I've been THAT obvious) with using an old MS product (and of course the fact that it doesn't work like my Razer did), surprised me with this idea! At first we were looking at the entry-level Krait from Razer, but to me, it kinda felt like a downgrade though I never used the programmable buttons on my previous mouse, and I agree with Sherm, the orange LEDs looked nice.. and then I recalled the C&C3 offer, where the Death Adder (a step up from the Diamondback too!) mouse was valued at about the same price as the bundle (C&C3 Kane's Wrath expansion + EA Razer Death Adder). Sherm has Tiberium Wars and so the expansion would go to her benefit too. We scoured Challenger for it, and Sherm managed to get her paws on the last piece in the store! Yay!


I love Shermy! She's the best! =X

Link: Review here.

US tax issues

What the HECK is going on there? When 3 of Obama's nominated persons wind up being embarrassed by tax issues.. 2 of which have withdrew their nominations while one managed to settle it. Its really disturbing that the public office holders, especially when they KNOW they're going to be in the limelight, can have problems with their tax returns. God only knows the mess on the side of the general public..

Just more reasons to why the US is so screwed up.

Portal (now on flash), and Linux Mint comments

Among the many new games I'm playing these days, and the testing of a new Linux OS derivative called "Linux Mint 6 (Felicia)", one game stands out..

Portal, the flash game.

Click to play! =D

More on Linux Mint: If you've reinstalled Windows XP as many times as I did in the past month, you'd really appreciate that Mint installed in under 15 mins. And.. the configuring was done all by itself! And this was not on my super-fast PC, but on my 4-year old one. If only it played games well too..